


Come High Water

by misura



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:15:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21932839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Kaz at sea. (Both literally and figuratively.)
Relationships: Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa
Comments: 6
Kudos: 70
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Come High Water

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hardlygolden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hardlygolden/gifts).



On land, Inej had been the Wraith: lethal, invisible and untouchable, because she was the best at what she did, and no one was able to best her. Kaz knew that he had helped create that myth himself, that the real Inej had thrown up after the first time she'd killed a man, and that the real Inej could very much be touched and hurt, even to the point of almost dying.

He'd simply preferred to act as if he hadn't known those things. It had been easier.

Now, at sea, Inej was the Wraith no longer. People didn't walk right past her without noticing her presence. Instead, when they saw her, people more often stopped for a quick chat.

Kaz tried not to take that as a personal offense. He'd _wanted_ Inej to be free. He'd almost talked himself into believing that _he_ wanted to be free, too - from Inej, that was, but he'd always known it wasn't true.

So now here he was. Far away from the Dregs and the place where people knew to fear him.

_What am I doing here?_

Kaz was not a seaman. He held his own in a fight, but brawling wasn't his specialty. Kaz preferred to do his fighting from a distance. People might have referred to him as 'Dirtyhands' once upon a time, only the dirt had been more metaphorical than literal.

He'd been a planner, a schemer. Kaz's first weapon of choice had always been his mind.

"Sorry you came along?" Inej asked.

Kaz realized with some annoyance that he hadn't heard her coming. He'd taken pride in being the one person capable of sensing the Wraith's approach - but that, too, had been on land, not out here, on a ship at sea. There was a lot to notice at sea, a lot of sounds and smells and sights.

"No," he replied, thinking to himself that he didn't sound very convincing.

Inej looked at him. Kaz willed himself to look sincere. "It's not too late to change your mind, you know," Inej said. "We're passing several places today where we could drop anchor for a while and put you back ashore."

"I didn't come here to be put ashore someplace where the only thing I can do is wait for you to come back," Kaz said. "If that's what I wanted, I might as well have stayed in Ketterdam."

Inej nodded once. "All right." Kaz found himself hoping she'd go on and say something about how she liked having him along, how she valued his presence here, but she kept quiet, staring out over the sea.

_And why should she be happy you're here? What use are you to her?_ If it came to a fight, Kaz had no intention of standing back, but if Inej and her crew needed him and his cane to make the decisive difference in a brawl, there would be something seriously wrong.

"It's ... strange," Kaz offered when he started to feel uncomfortable with the silence. Which was ridiculous. "Seeing you as some sort of pirate captain, giving orders."

Inej arched an eyebrow at him. "Why?"

"It's - " Kaz hesitated, searching for the right words. Inej made for a fine captain. Her crew felt she acted with courage, honor and good sense. They respected her. "It's like our positions have been reversed," he said at last. "Except that it's not really that, either. Something like that, though. People see you now."

Few members of the crew, if any, willingly talked to Kaz. None of them sought him out in their spare time, or tried to make friends. Kaz was fine with that. He'd come here for Inej, not to make new friends.

"People see me," Inej agreed. "I'm fine with that, Kaz. I _want_ people to see me, to know who I am and what I want to do." _Put a stop to slavery._ A noble goal - a _foolish_ goal, Kaz might have told anyone else. A goal that was impossible to accomplish as long as there was a profit to be made by capturing people and selling them as property.

"I know," Kaz said.

"You think people don't see you, too?" Inej sounded neutral, non-judgmental.

_I know they don't,_ Kaz thought. If any of Inej's crew members had had any secrets worth taking, he'd have had them by now. And sure, Kaz had found out _some_ secrets, some bits of knowledge that he might use as leverage if he ever needed to.

"Not the way you do," he said. _Not the way_ I _saw_ you _when you were the Wraith and I was Dirtyhands._ Those days seemed gone for good, and most of the time, Kaz had no regrets.

Inej smiled. "You're not going to turn into a romantic all of a sudden, are you?"

Kaz scowled. What about what he'd said had been at all romantic? He'd only been honest with her, the way he tried to be with himself, for lack of other people he trusted. No doubt there was a pithy Suli proverb to explain why that was a bad idea, but it had worked for Kaz just fine.

Inej sighed and shook her head. "Never mind. I'm glad you're here, Kaz."

Kaz felt his scowl slip away. Instead of annoyed, he felt warm, pleased. "I'm glad I'm here, too. With you." It could have been the two of them in a rowboat and he'd have been glad. _In fact, I might have preferred that._ But the two of them in a rowboat wouldn't have been able to take on the slavers, to sink their ships and free their captives. To make them afraid any time they saw another ship appear.

Inej grinned. "You're really sure you're feeling all right?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Kaz said. He felt a bit flustered, like she'd caught him doing something he shouldn't have been doing. "Now how about you go find yourself some slavers to terrorize? I'm not going anywhere." _Other than with you. Wherever you choose to go._


End file.
